WONDERING whether you should buy a PS4 Slim, Xbox One S or wait for the PS4 Pro? Read our review of Sony's new console, which is OUT NOW.

After the least surprising announcement ever, Sony's brand new and slimmed down PS4 - unofficially dubbed the PS4 Slim - is out now, priced at £259 for the basic model, or £309 for the 1TB version.

But while the existence of a slimmer PlayStation wasn't exactly a secret - you could buy one at CEX, after all - nobody was knew how much smaller it actually was, or whether it had any nifty new tricks up its sleeve.

Sony may have answered these questions and more during last week's conference, but now fans want to know if it looks as good as it sounds, how it measures up to the competition and whether it's worth buying one or waiting for the PS4 Pro.

Read on for Express Online's review of the PS4 Slim and check out the gallery below for a closer look at Sony's slick new device:

PS4 Pro and PS4 Slim Hi Res screenshots from Sony

Fri, September 2, 2016

The PS4 PRO will be released on November 10, 2016 and has some new high resolution screenshots shared by Sony.

PS4 Slim - Just how good does it look and what can it do?

While the PS4 Slim looks noticeably better than the original PS4 console, the makeover hasn't exactly been extreme - not that it needed to be, mind you.

It's like the original PS4 has cut down on the junk food, had a shave and been kitted out with some nice new clothes.

Lying down flat, the PS4 Slim is more than a centimetre shorter than the original PS4, measuring in at around 3.9cm, compared to the heftier 5.3cm of its predecessor.

It's also sporting a much squarer and more even 26.5cm x 26.5cm frame, compared to the original's 27.5cm x 30cm rectangular base.

The PS4 Slim's matte black finish is easier on the eye, while the physical buttons eliminate any power and disc blunders you might have experienced with the original.

Then there are the little touches like the PlayStation symbols on the underside of the console, the quieter fan and the slightly modified DualShock 4 controller with front-facing lightbar for clearer in-game notifications.

Assuming the controller's thumbsticks can take a little more punishment than the original - it's hard to tell how durable they are at this early stage - then Sony has seemingly ironed out most of the complaints we had about the original console.

PS4 Slim vs Xbox One S - which console is best?

Choosing your console really comes down to the kind of exclusive games you want to play. Sony has the likes of The Last of Us, Uncharted, Bloodborne and No Man's Sky, while Microsoft can count Gears of War, Halo, Forza and Quantum Break among its ranks.

However, if you were basing your choice of console purely on aesthetics, then it's the Xbox One S that makes a bigger splash.

iUnlike the PS4 Slim, the Xbox One WAS in desperate need of a new look, and has gone down the 10 Years Younger path of plastic surgery and expensive new threads.

The power brick is no more, the robot white colour scheme is stunning, and the matching controller handles like a dream.

One of the Xbox One's big selling points is HDR support, which thanks to a recent update, comes with all PS4 consoles as standard, even the old one. Kudos to Sony for that.

The Xbox One S does have Ultra-HD Blu-ray support, but unless you've got a 4K TV with HDR, then you're not really going to get the benefits of all this fancy new tech.

So it's Microsoft that gets the upper-hand in this particular battle, but with virtual reality about to come to PS4, not to mention the strength of those platform exclusives, it's hard to recommend anything other than the PlayStation at this point.

Exclusive new games for PS4

Here are the hotly anticipated PS4 game exclusives for 2016.

A great story of a young boy and a lost creature is the base for the highly anticipated The Last Guardian out in 2016

Should I buy a PS4 Slim or wait for the PS4 Pro?

The other big decision you'll need to make is whether to go for a PS4 Slim or wait for the PS4 Pro to launch.

It's actually an easy choice, because the price difference isn't that drastic - the 1TB PS4 Slim costs £309, compared to £349 for the 1TB PS4 Pro - and the PS4 Pro is out on November 10, so there's only a couple of months to wait.

The PS4 Pro supports 4K gaming, runs games at a higher frame-rate and boasts a more powerful CPU and GPU. It will be particularly useful if you're planning on buying a power-sapping PlayStation VR headset in October.

If you crave more power, flashier visuals and have got your PlayStation VR headset on pre-order, then hold off on the PS4 Slim and grab a PS4 Pro instead.

But if you are in the market for an entry-level PS4 that will sit under your TV with room to spare, then the PS4 Slim is definitely the way to go.